International Children's Book Day

Learn more: https://www.xiagallerycafe.com/halfaworldaway

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ABOUT THE EVENT:

Join us for a children's book reading event! Jamie Kalakaru-Mava’s will be reading her children’s book, Half a World Away. There will be additional reading from two other authors! Tory Envy will be reading A Visit to the Zoo and Saymoukda Duangphouxay Vongsay will be reading When Everything Was Everything.

After the reading, Jamie will be leading an activity to decorate a fun mask. Sri Lanka uses masks for healing, ceremony, and joy. Supplies will be provided.

This is a FREE event.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS:

Jamie Kalakaru-Maka

Jamie (Schumacher) Kalakaru-Mava is an artist and a writer living in Bloomington, Minnesota. By day, she works with Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) in support of the Twin Cities cultural districts and also serves as a Creative Placemaking Commissioner. By night, she dances with words and paint. Jamie’s work has been featured in Pollen, Star Tribune, and MN Women’s Press. Her two books It’s Never Going To Work (2018) and Butterflies and Tall Bikes (2021) are narrative nonfictions featuring Minnesota’s creative communities. Jamie performs comedy as an active member of the Funny Asian Women Kollective, is a Loft Literary Center Mirrors and Windows fellow, and this is her children’s book debut.

Tory Envy:

Victoria Lee, known professionally as Tory Envy is a Hmong-American children's book author and artist. Envy published her first bilingual children's book "I Am A Big Sister - Kuv Yog Ib Tug Niam Laus" in 2021 where she was featured on Fox 9 News and ranked top 20 at Amazon.com for Asian American Literature after her release. She is a mother of two, a toddler and an infant, where she gets her best book ideas.

Being the first born generation of Hmong immigrant parents in the Unites States, Envy found various forms of art as a way to express herself and share experiences from upbringing. She was caught between two cultures at opposite sides of the spectrum. Being Hmong and through her books and art, she encourages self-expression and wants to keep Hmong literacy alive.

Saymoukda Duangphouxay Vongsay

Saymoukda is a Lao American writer. CNN’s “United Shades of America” host W. Kamau Bell called her work “revolutionary.” She’s a recipient of a Sally Award for Initiative from the Ordway Center for Performing Arts which “recognizes bold new steps and strategic leadership undertaken by an individual...in creating projects or artistic programs never before seen in Minnesota that will have a significant impact on strengthening Minnesota’s artistic/cultural community.” She’s best known for her Kung Fu Zombies plays and children’s book When Everything Was Everything. She’s an advisory board member of the nonprofits More Than A Single Story and Asian Pacific Islander American Film Collective. Other community contributions include having served on the City of Saint Paul Cultural STAR Board and the Governor’s State Poet Laureate program design and interview/selection committees. Saymoukda is currently a Bush Fdn Leadership Fellow in playwriting, a Mellon Fdn Playwright in Residence at Theater Mu, a Jerome Hill Artist Fellow in playwriting, a Jerome@Camargo Artist in Residence in Cassis, France, and a Center for Cultural Power Narrative Design Lab Fellow. Upcoming plays include commissioned work from Mixed Blood Theatre (MN), Theater Mu (MN), and InterAct Theatre Co. (PA)

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